Alexander Kadoshnikov, Head of Sales to Pipe Enterprises of PJSC MMK, spoke about this at the 9th All-Russian Conference “Steel Pipes: Production and Regional Sales” that ended in Rostov-on-Don.
According to him The pipe industry is one of the key segments of MMK's presence on the domestic market. It accounts for more than a quarter of all Russian sales of the plant. Magnitka firmly holds the position of the largest supplier of rolled stock for the production of welded pipes in Russia. Last year, the company shipped a total of 3.3 million tons of hot-rolled steel to the Russian market, about 56% of which went to pipe manufacturers. In 2017, shipments of hot-rolled steel to the market amounted to 3.2 million tonnes, and 3.1 million tonnes a year earlier.
MMK itself is a manufacturer of pipe products, producing round, galvanized, and, since 2017, shaped pipes. The volume of shipments of pipe products of our own production to the domestic market in 2018 amounted to 60 thousand tons, including 11.1 thousand tons of galvanized pipes. In 2019, the volume of supplies of tubular products of its own production to the Russian market is planned to be kept at the level of 2018.
As Alexander Kadoshnikov noted, in a highly competitive market, the most promising marketing strategy is to search for and consolidate in market niches. In this regard, MMK continues to work in the field of developing new and improving the quality of existing products. Over the past year, the production of new types of products from steels of various strength classes has been mastered, expanding the brand and size range of products. In particular, in 2018, a technology for the production of sheet metal from cryogenic steel of grade 0H9 was developed and mastered for use in cryogenic engineering projects and in the construction of facilities for the transportation, use and storage of compressed and liquefied natural gas. In 2019, work is planned to expand the dimensional assortment of rolled products from cryogenic steel.
Another important area of strengthening our presence in the pipe products market is maintaining constant quality and constant development of customer services. Since April 1, 2019, PJSC MMK has put into commercial operation an automated system for operational scheduling of production (AS OKPP), which provides customers with the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive check of orders for feasibility at the time of registration, automatically search for "fellow travelers" and optimally enlarge small-tonnage orders ... It allows customers to see the planned date of shipment of finished products, monitor the fulfillment of each order by redistribution and promptly inform customers about the current stage of order execution.
For maximum convenience of customers, in case of any questions about the quality of the supplied rolled metal and technical questions, Technical support office, which works on the principle of "one window" - using a single center for claims and technical support. The most modern information resources are widely used in the office work - the progress of the claim work can be tracked by the client in real time, including using a specially developed mobile application.
Work to improve overall efficiency, increase competence in the release of niche products and the development of customer focus allow PJSC MMK to count on maintaining and strengthening its market positions.
The 9th All-Russian Conference “Steel Pipes: Production and Regional Sales” was held on May 27-28 in Rostov-on-Don. More than 100 companies took part in its work, including suppliers of pipe products, metal traders, suppliers of sheet products, pipe consumers, scientific institutes.
Information and Public Relations Department of PJSC MMK
